


Comfortember 9: Confession

by FlyinBanachab



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Cadets, Drinking, Drinking Games, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyinBanachab/pseuds/FlyinBanachab
Summary: "Never have I ever..." Cadet Hawkeye paused to think. She was the most sober in the group by far, but she was being a good sport about it.
Relationships: Rebecca Catalina/Jean Havoc, Riza Hawkeye & Rebecca Catalina & Heymans Breda & Jean Havoc
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	Comfortember 9: Confession

The night was darker than usual, heavy clouds blotting out all trace of moon and stars. Maybe a bit gloomy, but it did give some extra cover to the four cadets drinking on the lakeshore. They sat on a blanket, gathered around a lantern in a loose semicircle, voices obscured by the wind and waves.

"Never have I ever..." Cadet Hawkeye paused to think. She was the most sober in the group by far, but she was being a good sport about it. "Lied about my age."

"What, never?" Cadet Catalina asked, taking a drink. "You've never told a guy you're older than you actually are."

"Or tried to buy cigarettes? Or beer?" Cadet Havoc asked, having taken a swig himself.  


"Or," Cadet Breda, pulling his bottle from his lips, added with a smirk, "enlisted a year early?"  


Rebecca turned her attention on him like a spotlight. "You didn’t. You can’t-- are you seriously _eighteen_? You were FIFTEEN-- ? No way. No-- no WAY."

Breda's smirk only intensified. "Some of us mature faster than others. Jean, go."

"Never have I ever... hmm... accidentally started a fire."

A pause while the other three racked their memories, then Breda took a drink. Riza looked from her beer to Jean and said tentatively, "If I didn't start it myself, but I caused someone else to accidentally start a fire..."

Jean grinned like he’d just snagged the stuffed bear from the claw machine. "Drink, girl! And then tell us the story."

"Yeah! Story time, story time! You never tell us anything!" Rebecca cheered.

Riza sipped at her beer, made a face, and shook her head. "Not tonight."

"Awww," Rebecca pouted.

Breda's turn now. "Never have I ever... been skinny dipping."

Rebecca took a drink, and so did Jean, conspicuously not looking at each other.

Breda laughed. “Why am I not surprised.”

“Night’s young, Red,” Jean said to Breda, gesturing out at the lake. “Wanna go?”

Breda blanched. “Not with you, cowboy.”

Riza hastily added, “Yes, let’s not please. Becca, it’s your turn.”

"Never have I ever..." Rebecca looked down at her bottle, then around the circle. Her closest friends in the academy. Her closest friends, ever. Riza, her roommate, relentlessly driven by some secret she would never share. Breda, the insufferable jackass who'd somehow become one of her favorite people. Jean, ... _Jean_. Loving and loyal to a fault. He deserved better than a train wreck like her.

The question she was going to pose died on her lips.

"...been scared of deployment," she finished, in a tiny voice. And tipped her head all the way back, draining her bottle.

A moment's hesitation, and three more bottles rose up in turn.

The cadets met each other’s eyes in the dim lantern light. Do they really look like soldiers, ready to fight and die for their country? Or do they look like kids playing pretend, up past their bedtime, afraid of the dark?  


The waves lapped the shore, steady and sure. Frogs chirped in the distance.

Jean put his arm around her, and she knew she shouldn’t, but she allowed it. He was strong and familiar and warm. She leaned against him, breathing in cologne and ash. "We'll be okay," he said. "We'll make it. I know we will."

Strong and familiar and _naive_. Oh, Jean. She knew she shouldn’t, but she rested her head on his shoulder.  


Reluctant nods all around. Do they believe it? No, but it would be silly to argue. Riza suggested they call it a night, and the cadets started gathering their things with a collective sense of relief.

Jean kept an arm around her all the way home. She knew she shouldn’t, but she allowed it.


End file.
